Its annual report also showed the number of people employed has risen by over 300 to 18,974, and the total wage bill has gone up from £955m to £976.5m.

The amount spent on the big hitters who take home more than £1m a year, including Match Of The Day presenter Gary Lineker and chat show king Graham Norton, has gone up from £4.2m to £5.1m.

“The bill for on-screen talent rose from £194m to £208m”

Eurovision host Norton pockets about £2.6million.

And Lineker is paid an estimated £2million.

The bill for on-screen talent rose from £194m to £208m, but the figure now includes salaries from World Service presenters.

The BBC did cut the amount paid to talent earning between £500,000 and £750,000, which fell from £6.5m to £2.9m.

Director general Tony Hall has pledged to save £50m by cutting layers of management.

The company is in the middle of its Delivering Quality First efficiency drive which it says has saved £484m this year.

Mr Hall revealed a five-year plan to generate £1bn from the corporation’s commercial arm, BBC Worldwide, to help offset new costs including the over-75s licence fees which were announced in the Budget last week.

BBC Worldwide paid £226.5m to the Beeb last year due to the success of hit shows including Doctor Who and Great British Bake Off.